Adware companies suing one another over… adware

The adware war heats up with a lawsuit that accuses one adware company, …

Adware and spyware companies are not just satisfied with getting their software onto end users' computers ? they want to make sure it stays there. Some spyware companies have even gone to the lengths of disabling and deleting anti-spyware programs. Now the adware companies have turned against each other and the battle has moved to the courtroom. The adware company DirectRevenue is being accused of using underhanded tactics to make sure they get and keep "customers" at the expense of Avenue Media, another adware company.

Caribbean-based ad company Avenue Media last month accused New York-based DirectRevenue of using competing software to detect and delete Avenue Media's Internet Optimizer program from its customers' computers. According to the Nov. 24 complaint, DirectResponse's [sic] software detects Internet Optimizer and then sends a command to "kill" the program, a process that deletes its files from the PC registry and from the computer altogether.

According to Avenue Media, this uninstall tactic has caused the company to lose 1 million users — nearly half of the installed base, and has resulted in up to US$10,000 per day in lost revenue. Companies that value their customer base would be walking on shaky ground by deleting and modifying installed programs, but adware and spyware companies operate on the fringe of ethical practices. Their target customer is not the tech savvy computer owner who keeps track of installed programs, instead they prey on individuals who like browser do-dads while ignoring EULAs and what processes are running in the background. When customers balk, they point to the EULA which states:

"You further understand and agree, by installing the Software, that BetterInternet and/or the Software may, without any further prior notice to you, remove, disable or render inoperative other adware programs resident on your computer ..."

Much of the case could turn on the legality of the EULA and what can be contained therein. DirectRevenue's main defense would seem to be that users knew what was in the EULA before their software was installed. But, in some cases according to Ben Edelman, DirectRevenue's software (and Avenue Media's Internet Optimizer) never displayed an EULA and was actually installed through a series of security holes. Unfortunately, advertisers and venture capital companies encourage this type of action when they keep pumping money into adware companies that employ iffy tactics. Until these types of EULAs are struck down in the courts and supporting revenue dries up, adware companies will continue to push the edges of current laws.